Boathook
Well-Known Member
The polyurethane arrived so I set to work. Aligning the bush was fiddly so a bolt, washer and insulating tape round the bolt (to give a snug fit in the bush) later I had the following. Pic below. The washer was a nice fit in the aft end of the prop and seemed to align quite well. The prop and bush mating surfaces were both wiped down with meths for a final clean and allowed to dry. The face of the washer likely to get the resin on it was covered with insulating tape as a 'release agent'.
With this in the prop, the whole lot wobbled around a bit so would require something to help with alignment.
This was achieved with some scrap wood and 'hole' saw that gave a nice snug fit in the prop. The centre hole was drilled to be a slight tolerance fit on the bolt.
The resin was mixed as per instructions and syringed into the annulus. This meant that it could be done slowly allowing any air bubbles to escape. The wooden alignment was put back in placed and the whole lot left overnight.
Next day I removed the alignment bits (below). There was slight seepage from the washer at the bottom. The top prop is an original one and the bottom my repaired one. This picture shows the end that goes first onto the gearbox.
This picture below again shows both props, but the aft end where the nut goes. Bottom left prop is the repaired one.
Next job is to test and see how good my alignment was for balancing the prop. This wont take place for a few days as the polyurethane takes nearly 7 days to reach full strength. So far an interesting project with the only cost being nearly £16 for the polyurethane of which I only required around 15ml.
Would I do this again ? Presently I can't really comment until I test it properly. This means engine on dinghy and going flat out for while and then removing prop and checking the bond. If this all is OK I would do it again but may try to sort out a more 'secure way' of aligning the bush in the prop.
With this in the prop, the whole lot wobbled around a bit so would require something to help with alignment.
This was achieved with some scrap wood and 'hole' saw that gave a nice snug fit in the prop. The centre hole was drilled to be a slight tolerance fit on the bolt.
The resin was mixed as per instructions and syringed into the annulus. This meant that it could be done slowly allowing any air bubbles to escape. The wooden alignment was put back in placed and the whole lot left overnight.
Next day I removed the alignment bits (below). There was slight seepage from the washer at the bottom. The top prop is an original one and the bottom my repaired one. This picture shows the end that goes first onto the gearbox.
This picture below again shows both props, but the aft end where the nut goes. Bottom left prop is the repaired one.
Next job is to test and see how good my alignment was for balancing the prop. This wont take place for a few days as the polyurethane takes nearly 7 days to reach full strength. So far an interesting project with the only cost being nearly £16 for the polyurethane of which I only required around 15ml.
Would I do this again ? Presently I can't really comment until I test it properly. This means engine on dinghy and going flat out for while and then removing prop and checking the bond. If this all is OK I would do it again but may try to sort out a more 'secure way' of aligning the bush in the prop.
